Flat Cloth Baby Diapers

So my husband and I have decided that using disposable diapers is FAR to expensive. We spend roughly $40 to $60 a month on diapers. So we decided to order some flat cloth diapers. $14.95/dozen @ Cotton Babies. We ordered 2 dozen and 3 covers to start out with. 3 covers isn't enough but we will just have to make do.

My mother-in-law being the awesome woman she is, decided that she wanted me to make some so she bought me some flannel instead of diaper fabric. This was fine since you can only make one diaper out a yard of the diaper fabric and its friggin $4.99 a yard!!!
This makes the diapers a bit thicker but are way better for overnight. Much more absorbent. Especially if you can make a liner out of something that wicks the moisture away from babies skin so he/she doesn't feel it as much. I also had a little PUL laying around, enough to make a diaper cover so now I've got an additional 9 diapers and an extra cover.

SOOOOOOO to make your own.....

Buy flannel or diaper fabric. Diaper Cuts has a selection of fabrics and PUL for diaper making as well as mama pad making.

I make my flats about 30"x30" which will accommodate most babies. Newborns need a 27"x27" flat where as larger babies (usually 24months +) need a 33"-34" flat.

Determine how many diapers you want to make. Multiply it by the length of your diaper, in this case 30". Divide that number by 36 and you will get how many yards you will need. You will have about a foot of spare cloth. I used this to make additional soakers to go under my Birdseye flats.

Once you have washed and dried your fabric, iron, measure and cut.

Fold edges over about half an inch. I don't iron or pin them. I just rough estimate it. I mean come on now, they are just going to get covered in poo... Do they really have to be perfect?

Once edges are folded zig-zag the edge so that it doesn't unravel. Back stitch at beginning and end so thread doesn't come undone and Voila! Diapers! Your little one will thank you. Flannel is much nicer to their backside!

Leggy Warmers

I saw a few tuts on how to turn old socks/legwarmers into baby legwarmers. This is what they look like. Super Cute. I love them! You can find a tut here. It isn't exactly the same cuz I do what I want and they wouldn't have fit my little girl.

Tampon/Pad Cozy, Boxy Little Bags

As I am sure most women know, you don't generally have a period while breastfeeding however I still wanted to make some of these super cute feminine product holders for the future.

Tampon/Pad cozy tut here.

Tampon Cozy tut here.

Little Boxy Bag tut here.

I chose to cover my bags in vinyl. In retrospect, I think that I should have lined the inside with vinyl since I have on in Cherry fabric in my diapie bag for Kloe's ointments and meds.
Happy Sewing!

Diaper Clutch/Burpies

I love surfing Blogspot for sewing tuts. Here are two that I found. Super fond of the diaper clutch. The burpies were a little on the small side but all you have to do is enlarge the pattern.
Diaper clutch tut here and burpies tut here.

Baby/Toddler Yoga Pants

I am going to be making most of my baby girls clothing from here on out. Here is my first experience with making some clothing for her...

You can find the pattern and tut here.

Zippered Wallet

My very first zippered project! I got a little intimidated. It doesn't look great but that's ok. it just hangs out in my purse. Here is the tut from SewChristine.

The Buttercup Purse

The Buttercup Purse by Rae is one of the very first things I made after I made the wipes. Here is what it ended up looking like....

The purse was incredibly simple to sew and I love how cute it looks. Hers look much better of course! You can find the tut on how to do it here.
Happy Sewing!

First Post. Hello, hello!

So at some point in late May or early June, I wanted to make some cloth baby wipes for my little girl. At the time I didn't have a sewing machine so I went to my grandmother's house to use hers. It looks something like this...

With it I made little wipeys that looked like this....

After doing so my grandma decided it was time for me to have my own machine and found one on Craigslist for $50. I drove over to her house and picked up the cash as well as the ad and directions to the ladies house who was selling the machine. When I arrived, I discovered that her concept of barely used and what barely used really means were two very different things. She spoke very little English but informed me that she didn't know how to use it but that it was brand new. I had to clean tons of fabric dust out of it and oil it. New my butt.
It looked a little something like this.... (but a bit dirtier. I don't have a pic of the machine except from angles.)

This is what it really looks like. I added the rose :)

 

It doesn't have any fancy stitches, just forward, backward, zig-zag and a button hole setting but it gets the job done!
When I got my machine home, I proceeded to make more wipes as well as many other things that I will be posting today.
Thanks for reading! Enjoy!